Sonnie's Edge

by Peter F. Hamilton

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

25 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2000

About the author

Peter F. Hamilton is a British science fiction author. He is best known for writing space opera. As of the publication of his tenth novel in 2004, his works had sold over two million copies worldwide, making him Britain's biggest-selling science fiction author.

Reviews

[jurizprudent · Rating 4 out of 5]

been watching love, death + robots these past few days and thought i'd read the short story my favorite episode was based from—i liked this, of course. i enjoyed sonnie's edge the episode adaptation more tho, but i appreciated that this short offered extra information about certain things, like how the affinity link works between the beastie and pilot.

[kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this grungy, badass little story 3 stars and I give the love, death + robots episode that was adapted from this story 5 stars.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The L,D+R episode based on this story introduced me to Hamilton’s work and I’ve since read two of his unrelated novels, both of which were exceptional. After waiting a few years I sat down to enjoy the actual story here. It is atmospheric and finely wrought. I look forward to continuing deeper into Night’s Dawn.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever dark short story with a sci for kick

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

just went on a lil love death & robots nostalgia kick and thought i'd read the story that inspired "sonnie's edge" because what a great episode. i like the short story a little more than the episode, i feel, although it's difficult to say because my familiarity with the in-story universe, which allows me to immediately connect with the written story, is at least in part due to having watched the episode first. but specifically i like the ending of the short story more, with sonnie explaining the gang rape story as being false and truly she crashed a car and they put her in a life support pod — i think this better encapsulates the theme of feeling true fear and exploiting the misogynistic environment of beastie baiting (but we know that love death & robots is at least a little misogynistic in the way it gets off on the abuse of women so i'm not surprised they didn't include this. although i really wish they had). also i enjoyed having jennifer's perspective! the switch from sonnie to jennifer after sonnie "dies" is really well-executed.

things i did not enjoy as much were just certain details felt unnecessary, maybe even to the point of playing into the misogyny/female stereotypes that the short story is supposed to be about exploiting — what was the purpose of explaining sonnie's relationship with wes/irvina? why did we need to know sonnie is blonde with a bob? — and characters felt dramatic rather than real scrappy future people — although in some cases i guess it's justified, e.g. sonnie is really dramatizing and performing for dicko and jennifer when she gives her gang rape story, but in other cases, such as sonnie explaining her edge to jennifer, it's just over the top (and also a lil anti-characteristic i feel?). but these are relatively small things and i liked the love death & robots episode and i like the short story overall.

[Max Ganas · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Преимущество Сонни» — рассказ, получивший экранизацию в известном сериале «Любовь. Смерть. Роботы». Это относительно короткая история, погружающая читателя в мир будущего, где высокие технологии соседствуют с жестокими развлечениями — чем-то вроде гладиаторских боёв между усовершенствованными существами.

Сюжет сам по себе не нов, но если вы не знакомы с одноимённой серией из сериала, то финальный поворот вполне может удивить. Это как раз тот случай, когда лучше сначала прочитать, а потом смотреть. Основной интерес вызывают размышления главной героини, её внутренние сомнения и воспоминания, а также довольно насыщенное описание Лондона будущего.

При этом рассказ немного неожиданно переключается с динамичного, ярко описанного действия на более размеренное, вдумчивое повествование. Это не плюс и не минус, а скорее особенность — своеобразный переход от напряжённой сцены боя к почти философским размышлениям, дающим глубину истории.

В целом — хороший рассказ, не претендующий на гениальность, но вполне достойный внимания. Особенно если вы любите научную фантастику, в которой за экшеном скрываются человеческие чувства и непростые моральные выборы.